ELECTROCULTURE

Waipa Post, Volume 34, Issue 2033, 16 July 1927, Page 6

ELECTROCULTURE

USE IN WHEAT 'GROWING. Last season the. Department of Agriculture ; o|; Western Australia conducted an experiment to test the ef-fects-Hf any—of electroculture on wheat. The experiment was made under the supervision of the vendor of the apparatus, and carried out by the officers' of the Department..".

It was claimed amongst other things that electroculture produces the following results: (1) All crops are considerably increased; (2) the enormous expense of manures is eliminated; (3) droughts do not affect .crops; and (4) everything grown by electricity is hastened by three weeks at least. The land on which the experiment was conducted is typical heavy land, which hadjbeen cleared of salmon and gimlet some years previously. It was followed* with a heavy disc plough to a depth of four inches in August, 1925, and received cultivations with a spring-time implement during September, April, and prior to sowing. Seven plots were used, each being one drill width wide, and one-twelfth of an acre in area.

Down the centre of each plot a trench 16 inches deep was opened out, and along the bottom of the trenches, in plots 2,4, and 6, a soft No. 8 galvanised wire was laid. The south ends \>f these wires were connected to an " electroculture apparatus," placed on a pole 20 feet high at the south end of each plot. The plots were laid out due north and south in accordance with the directions. The purpose of trenching all seven plots, instead of only the three connected with the apparatus, was in accordance with the correct experimental procedure, to ensure that all plots received the same treatment. The trenches were filled in and the plots were again cultivated before sowing, which took place on 20th June. All the plots received exactly similar treatment, the wheat being sown at the rate of 45 lbs of seed to the acre, and 96 lbs of superphosphate (22 per cent) was applied to the electroeultured plots as well as the controls, as was arranged with the vendor. Field notes were made at frequent intervals, but at no time from germination to maturity could any difference in growth be noticed between the electrocultured and the non-electrocul-tured plots. At flowering time all seven plots flowered simultaneously, and matured normally. The following are the computed grain yields of the various plots: Plot No. 1: No apparatus; 22 bushels J4lbs; percentage, 100. Plot 2: Electroculture apparatus installed; 21

bushels 48 lbs; .97 per cent. Plot 3: No apparatus; 22 bushels 24 lbs; 100 per cent. Plot 4: Apparatus installed; 22 bushels; 98 per-cent. Plot 5: No apparatus; 22 bushels 36 lbs; 100 per cent. Plot 6: Apparatus installed; 22 bushels 24 lbs; 100 per cent. Plot 7: No apparatus; 21 bushels 24 lbs; 100 per cent. The average of the seVen plots was: No apparatus, :22, bushels 12 lbs; apFrom the results obtained it is evident, on the basis of the experiment conducted for one year only, that electrocultured plots possessed no advantage over the non-electrocultured plots in regard to (1) increased yield; and (2) early maturity. It has recently been stated by the vendor that very little result can be expected during the first season, and that the experiment should be continued to note any increase the following season. However, the cropping of established wheat lands two years running in the eastern wheat belt is against all principles of scientific practice, and a three-year rotation is employed on this farm —namely, wheat fallow, wheat, stubble. The plots still remain connected, and observations will be made to see if any residual or cumulative effects can be noticed in the pasture.